Image quality index and/or imaging parameter recommendation based thereon

Abstract

A method includes determining a low contrast detectability of a scan and generating an image quality index based on the determined low contrast detectability. Another method includes identifying an image quality index of interest, identifying an acquisition and/or reconstruction parameter based on the image quality index and a pre-determined mapping between image quality indexes and acquisition parameter and reconstruction parameters, and displaying the identified acquisition and/or the reconstruction parameter. A system (100) includes a metric determiner (122) that determines a first image quality index for a scan based on at least one of a low contrast detectability of the scan or a project domain noise of the scan, and/or a parameter recommender (126) that recommends at least one of an acquisition or a reconstruction parameter for a scan based on a second image quality index, and a display (114) that visually presents the first or second image quality index.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer implemented method, comprising:
 determining a low contrast detectability of a tomographic scan; 
 determining projection domain noise of projection data generated from the scan; 
 reconstructing image data by reconstructing the projection data using a denoising reconstruction algorithm; 
 processing the image data, with a micro-processor of a clinical decision support system, which produces a result indicating a finding; 
 generating an image quality index for the scan based on the determined low contrast detectability and the projection domain noise; and 
 generating indicia indicating a confidence of the finding based on the image quality index. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining an image domain noise of the image data; 
 determining an image resolution of the image data; and 
 generating the image quality index based on a combination of the low contrast detectability, the projection domain noise, the image domain noise and the image resolution. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising:
 receiving an input indicating a weighting function for the low contrast detectability, the projection domain noise, the image domain noise and the image resolution in the determination of the image quality index. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the image quality index indicates a confidence in an ability to detect low contrast objects in the image data. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a set of candidate acquisition parameters; 
 determining a second image quality index for the received set of acquisition parameters; and 
 utilizing the set of candidate acquisition parameters in response to confirming the second image quality index. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 changing second image quality index, which updates the candidate acquisition parameters; and 
 utilizing the updated set of candidate acquisition parameters. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the image quality index indicates a quality of an acquisition of the scan. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the image quality index indicates a patient size normalized dose of the scan. 
     
     
       9. A computer implemented method, comprising:
 receiving a clinical indication of interest; 
 utilizing the received clinical indication of interest to identify an image quality index of interest based on a mapping between clinical indications and image quality indexes; 
 identifying at least one of an acquisition parameter or a reconstruction parameter based on the image quality index and a pre-determined mapping between image quality indexes and acquisition parameter and reconstruction parameters; 
 displaying the identified at least one of the acquisition parameter or the reconstruction parameter; and 
 employing the at least one of the acquisition parameter or the reconstruction parameter to scan an object or reconstruct an image of the object with a computed tomography scanner. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the image quality index represents at least one of a low contrast detectability or a projection domain noise. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the image quality index further represents at least one of an image domain noise or an image resolution. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the clinical indication of interest includes one of a liver tumor, a liver bleeding, or cirrhosis. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 obtaining an image reader profile, which indicates a clinician's preference or tolerance for noise in an image; and 
 identifying the at least one of an acquisition parameter or a reconstruction parameter based on the image quality index, the pre-determined mapping and the image reader profile. 
 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 receiving an input indicting a change to the image quality index of interest; 
 updating the at least one of the acquisition parameter or the reconstruction parameter based on the change to the image quality index of interest; and 
 displaying the updated at least one of the acquisition parameter or the reconstruction parameter. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 displaying an estimated dose for the displayed at least one of the acquisition parameter or the reconstruction parameter. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 comparing the estimated dose to a predetermined dose; and 
 displaying a message indicating the estimated dose exceed a predetermined dose threshold in response to the estimated dose exceed a predetermined dose threshold. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 computing a second image quality index based at least on the scan, which provides an image quality index for the actual scan.